Life can be hard as a veteran QB in the NFL. No matter how good you are throughout your career, Father Time starts creeping up on you. It’s even harder when you suffer a serious injury late in your career. That’s something Aaron Rodgers has experienced this offseason, with the Pittsburgh Steelers being his only real avenue to playing in 2025.
That’s also a struggle Kirk Cousins saw in 2024. FOX Sports’ Jason McIntyre thinks Cousins’ experience could be the reason Rodgers hasn’t signing with the Steelers just yet.
“I don’t know if Aaron Rodgers’ best move is to commit to the Steelers before the draft, or after,” McIntyre said Wednesday on The Herd. “If you’re the Steelers, sure, we’ll rent Aaron Rodgers for a year, but we’re also gonna draft a quarterback. You see what the Falcons did last year? They ushered in the Kirk Cousins era. Two months later, they drafted Michael Penix [Jr.] in the top 10. And clearly it messed with his head, he was coming off an injury, Rodgers is coming off an injury as well. And you start to wonder, no wonder Rodgers isn’t committing. He just saw Kirk Cousins get totally shafted.”
Last offseason, the Falcons signed Cousins to a massive deal even though he was 35 and coming off a season-ending Achilles injury with the Vikings.
Less than two months later, they used the eighth overall pick on Penix. That move shocked just about the entire NFL world, including Cousins. Cousins struggled during the 2024 season to regain his pre-injury form, and he ended up being benched for Penix late in the year. Now, Cousins is holding out hope for a trade to a QB-needy team.
It’s a tough spot to be in. And McIntyre makes a good point here. Of course, Rodgers now has a full season under his belt since his injury. However, while it wasn’t entirely his fault, he is coming off statistically one of the worst years of his career.
There’s little reason to suggest that Rodgers wouldn’t help out a younger QB, but that doesn’t mean it’s a position he wants to be in if he signs with the Steelers. If there’s a younger QB in the room, and Rodgers struggles, people are going to start calling for him to be benched. It’s the same situation Cousins went through in Atlanta. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for Rodgers to wait until after the draft, to avoid that type of situation.
However, that also puts the Steelers in a tough spot. They have to draft a QB at some point. Do they pass on one to appease a QB who’s not even on their roster yet? And if they do take one, does Rodgers spurn the Steelers?
